Third-period letdown dooms Maple Leafs in D.C. defeat

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Goalkeeper Josef Voll can do a lot.

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The Maple Leafs allowed more than 30 shots and two goals late in the third period in a 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday in D.C. Toronto was trying to win back-to-back games for the first time in three weeks, and Wall faced more than 30 shots in an overtime win over Columbus in his sixth straight start.

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The Leafs have lost eight of 10 games and remain near the basement of the Eastern Conference.

Late in the game, when Wall called for an extra hitter, Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson glove-fed Matthew Nice.

The Leafs had several golden opportunities to extend their deserved 2-0 lead, but were unable to score. They held a one-goal lead with less than seven minutes to play, fumbling the puck behind Wall, which went past Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Alex Ovechkin and passed to Anthony Beauvillier.

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Unable to score his 46th career goal against Toronto, Ovi made it his 35th assist. Jakob Chychrun, who had a great year attacking on the back line, beat Woll with a point shot less than three minutes later.

Tom Wilson added the empty net as the Leafs, among their other sins in this dismal 10-11-3 start, lost for the third time while leading after 40 minutes. It went against their tendency to give up the opening goal when Morgan Rielly made a short play after Thompson was slow to cover the ball. It was only the fourth time in the last 17 games that Toronto opened the scoring.

Rielly's goal came after Washington had its goal canceled out in the first minute with a quick whistle when officials thought Wall had covered the puck. Although it could still be considered a continuation of the shot, the puck died on the goal line after the shot before Dylan Strome scored it.

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At the end of Scott Lawton's penalty kill, Auston Matthews and Nice pulled away, Matthews stopped but was able to dodge Ovechkin's shot and set up Nice for his first goal since returning from injury. The assist was historically significant as Matthews passed the departed Mitch Marner for fifth in franchise history with 742 goals.

But Toronto's struggles in the second periods this year with long bench rotations have made themselves felt again. A weary group, caught for too long, was unable to defend against the Caps' attack as GTA native Conner McMichael beat Wall on 18th of the Caps' 33 shots to Wall.

Thompson, who is still talked about on Canada's Olympic team, stopped a John Tavares breakaway in the third period and made two big saves from Lawton.

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Toronto's lineup was a hot topic heading into the game as leading scorer William Nylander woke up sick before the day's kickoff and had to scratch himself. But instead of Matias Maccelli, who took over for the second time, the relegated Max Domi became the last big name on the bench after Dakota Joshua.

Domi has six points in 23 games, despite some time on the front line, and posted a notable minus-13. Joshua returned and launched an attack on Rielly's goal.

Wall will rotate with Dennis Hildeby on Saturday night when Toronto continues its trip to Pittsburgh for Friday night's game in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.

It's possible that Nylander and Domi will return for Saturday's game.

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